Winter Quarters

With the thermometer reading 13 degrees Fahrenheit and several inches of snow on the ground outside, the subject of winter quarters comes to mind.

While experienced by a much smaller segment of the reenacting community today, the armies were forced to contend with winter conditions each year.  Unlike the 20th century where winter combat was common, it was relatively rare to campaign in winter in the 19th.  While of the most famous battles occurred at Fredericksburg in December this was an exception to the rule.

Winter quarters were much like any other camp during the course of the war.  The daily routine of role calls, drill, parade, drill, eating, drill and so on continued. The pace was slower due to weather however, so the troops would have had more free time.  One of the key aspects of that free time was construction of where the soldier would live for the winter.

A stockade tent

The most basic for of winter camp would have been the tent. From personal experience, this is not exactly warm in 40 degree weather, let alone 0 degree. For this reason the next step would be the stockade tent. To build a stockade tent the occupants would often dig a shallow hole of one to 3 feet in depth. This permitted them to be below the ground level.  Then wooden walls would be added 1 or 2 feet above ground as a more solid wind break. Finally the normal tent would be placed over top to act as a roof.  While neither Jade nor myself have bunked in a tent such as this, I have been told they are tolerably warm compared to just a standard tent.










If the soldiers had more time and materials available, the hut was preferred by the soldiers.  The construction of the simple wood hut would vary according to materials available and the skill of the occupants.  If it is possible to give a description of a typical hut, I shall attempt to give it.

Several different styles of construction

Primary construction consisted of logs or boards for walls, with mud to fill the chinks between.  An entry way would be cut in one wall, hopefully with an actual door. Lacking a door, a heavy poncho or gum blanket would be used to block the entryway.  A window might be cut as well for light, but unless glass was available a common expedient was to place a sheet of paper in the window.  Typically on the wall opposite the door would be some manner of crude fireplace.  According to descriptions, it would rarely draw effectively and thus render the inside a smoky haze.  Shingles for the roof would have been wooden and fairly crudely made.



For living conditions, the soldier usually had to fashion his own furniture. A bunk could as be elaborate as a bunk bed or as simple as a board sticking out from the wall. Any tables or chairs would also have been soldier crafted. If the occupants of the hut were at all skilled in construction, the hut would have been a tolerable place to spend the winter.  By the time winter was over, any forest within twenty miles could have vanished from a need to supply construction materials and heating fuel.

Simple hut with stockade tent and chimney

Jade and myself had occasion to stay in a cabin similar to this in October for a living history event. Temperatures were mid 30s at night through low 50s during the day, damp and windy.  The key difference between this cabin and what the soldier's had was the replacement of the fireplace with a potbelly stove. Once the stove was truly going, the cabin was warm enough we often had to leave the door open just to avoid over heating.

Stay warm,
Corporal


Photographs and drawings from the Library of Congress. In order of appearance:


[Unidentified African American soldier in uniform and 10th Corps hat sitting outside shebang]. United States, None. [Between 1863 and 1865] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2016646110/. (Accessed December 30, 2017.)



Forbes, Edwin, Artist. Soldiers' huts in winter camp / E.F. Fredericksburg United States Virginia, 1863. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2004661841/. (Accessed December 30, 2017.)


Forbes, Edwin, Artist. Soldier's hut in winter--Borrowing a chimney. Remington United States Virginia, 1864. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2004661832/. (Accessed December 30, 2017.)

Merry Christmas

As our readers know, Jade and I love to go monument hunting when the weather is warmer. Occasionally it can be fun to see what is done to monuments at different times of the year. We were in the town of Coldwater, Michigan recently and saw the monuments in downtown.

Formed in Coldwater was an artillery battery known as Loomis Battery after it's commander. One of their original guns is permanently emplaced as a monument, a 10 pound Parrott rifle to be exact.  As the pictures show, it has been incorporated into the local Christmas display with Christmas decorations surrounding it. With Santa flying overhead, it would appear that Rudolph isn't enough to guide the sleigh this year.






 That's ok, Jade and I will get our troops together to give him artillery support.  In reenacting, horse drawn artillery is often called flying artillery.  This would give a new meaning to the term...

On the other side of the street is the local nativity scene.  Apparently there were no angels available to provide sentry duty for the manger. The only one available is in the manger with the baby Jesus.

 I would hazard to say that he has a good guardian however, as the monument to local Union Soldiers is standing watch over him.  Appropriate for this time of year, he is wearing a greatcoat for cold weather.

All quiet along the Jordan tonight...

To all our readers, Jade and I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Corporal

death in the civil war

Do to the recent passing of our loved battery commander Mr. Newkerk , We have chosen to do this post in his honer.  Our hearts go out to his family and to all of our reenacter family.


For this post we have chosen to cover the topic of death and funerals in the civil war.

How meny died in the war?

620,000  combined from both the north and south. 

mourning traditions 

 men:
men were expected to wear ribbons or rosettes, they were only expected to mourn for 3 months. 

women:

women were expected to be in mourning for 2 and half years.  eminently after the passing of s husband  a wife would dress in heavy black gowns with a black vail covering her face.

funeral jewelry was also very common. 
Most funral jewelry was made of  hair.

one of the more common practices was posing for photos with loved ones  that had passed sometimes making them look  alive,

We send our deepest sympathy to the family. 

 - Jade- and - corporal-

end of year recap of all our adventures

 A huge thank you to all our readers and all who have come out and supported living history events.
lots of new ideas are on the table for next season and we cant wait for the smell of black powder.
 

Happy thanksgiving to all our readers

 dear readers,

the corporal and I thank you all for the support these last few months.   with the season over and  the corporal and I have taken on the lovely task of house hunting and preparing to move, hence the lack of posts these last couple weeks.

once we are settled we plan to update more.

As the holidays come upon us i will leave you with this thought.

we all have family that has a past. dont push them away.  show them love and dont say things like your out of the family or  hate people for dating out of there race.

we are all gods children and the holidays are about being grateful.


Jade

Artillery Materials

Attention class!

Today's lesson is on the materials used in the construction of artillery barrels. While there were others known to have been used, the three most common were bronze, cast iron and wrought iron.

Bronze artillery included 6 pounders and the more famous 12 pound Napoleon. Bronze had the advantage of being easier to cast and being relatively malleable. It was also the most expensive of the three common types.

Wrought iron was used for complete construction of the 3 inch Ordnance Rifle as well as forming the reinforcement band on the breech of the Parrott Rifles or the Confederate made Brooke Rifle. Wrought iron is not cast, but welded together from iron bars. Significantly stronger than cast iron guns, the Ordnance Rifle suffered only one failure during the course of the war.

Cast iron was the cheapest and quickest construction material. The barrel is cast from iron as implied by the name. Problem with it is cast iron is brittle. Parrott and Brooke Rifles were known to burst without warning, often with only a few rounds due to weakness of material.

Cast iron would shatter into fragments, making it the most dangerous type. Bronze guns would stretch and often vent the failure straight up.

While used for the duration, cast iron guns were placed into storage after the Civil War, rarely to see service again due their inherent danger.

Class dismissed!

Reenacting as a couple

Reenacting as a couple 

As some of our readers may know, Jade and I are reenacting as a dating couple. This leads to several benefits.

One of the biggest benefits we have is teamwork. All artillery crews work as a team it is true, but when we are on the same crew we click and the process works smoother. Example being the recent reenactment at Mooresville. While working with the senior corporal in the battery, we were able to fire a breech loading cannon faster than infantry load their muskets.

It is another benefit that we can work together in camp. Something needs to be done, we can often work together as a team to do what needs to be done.  

The greatest benefit in my opinion is simply doing the hobby that I love the most with the woman I love the most.

I will say this. Biggest drawback is a very basic one. We like to hold hands. Automatic reflex. Looks quite strange when we are both soldiers.

Corporal.

corsets and hoops oh my.

As a female that portrays both a solder  and a women in the field, let me vent on each.


lets start with the historic ways a women would dress. As most know a typical under dress for a women is chemise, pantaloons, corset/ stays, hoops, petticoats, and dress.

 now the average a tent that we sleep in is a 8/7.

my point being here is realistically women couldn't of worn hoops all the time less they were high class and had maids / servants.  there a huge fire hazerd and watch everywhere you move. 
any women that has cooked over a fire knows the practicality of a field dress. ( bear with me as im not sure if they go by another name)



ok  part b of my rant.

most of you know i put on wool and serve with Corp. on cannons.  one thing that angers me is people saying its not historically correct.  there were meny women due to the bad medical exams that took on the look of men and males names to serve. some even wern't found out till death. 

my point being if a women wants to put on wool and play let her.

fun on a historic train ride

the Corp and I were so honored to be asked to come down to Medamora  Ind. for a wild west train robbery put on by the Circle D Rangers to raise money for Rilys  children's hospitals. 

 

Basic artillery categories

Fall in for instruction!

The first lesson in Civil War artillery is on the broad categories of artillery used in the war.

The artillery was broken into four basic types. Light, horse, siege and sea coast.

The first category is the light artillery, sometimes called the field artillery. This artillery used lighter guns that could keep up with the infantry Column. Examples of this are the 10 and 20 pound Parrott rifle, 12 pound Napoleen and 3 inch ordnance rifle. In the field artillery most of the men marched.

Horse artillery was very similar to field artillery, using the same types of guns. The primary difference was that all men had horses. This allowed them to keep up with the cavalry.

Siege artillery or heavy artillery started with guns the size of the 30 pound Parrott rifle and went up to guns firing up to 200 pound projectiles. Guns in this category could not keep up with the army and were thus brought into action only when the army needed to destroy fortifications. Most guns above the 30 pound size remained in forts and this were fortification guns.

Sea coast artillery were the heaviest of all. These guns were used exclusively in fortifications as they were too heavy to move once in place. The projectiles they fired ranged from 200 pounds to 1000 pounds in weight and up to 20 inches in diameter. With few exceptions, guns of this caliber in Union forts did not fire their weapons in anger while Confederate guns were used extensively.

Next time we will discuss the more common guns in the artillery in greater detail. Until then, class dismissed.

why do we reenact....

In light if the recent events of a bomb being found the protests i feel we should explain why we do what we do.

We do not reenact to protest or what ever people think. We put on the uniforms to teach and bring history to life. 

There were times in the war were northern and southern solders traded coffee and tobacco.   It was not all just fighting was people think.

This war is a big part of out history .

our adventures at Billy Creek Village

We were so blessed to be invited to Billy Creek Village in Rockville in.  The trip down was interesting as we had no cell reception for 3 hours going in and no service wile there but was a neat experience to unplug and enjoy.

the village its self has buildings that date back to the civil war. the school house on the inside looked like time had stopped and children were going to show up at any moment. there were the desks and chalk boards all in tact the chalk board with little signatures from visitors. the teachers desk was all layed out like someone was preparing for a class.

The main village it self was like stepping back in time were ever you go. 

the Corp. and I loved reenacting here and felt honored to help bring this place back to life. 

Corporal falling in

Post on the piece! March!

Starting today a new contributor to Blackpowder & Lace is falling in. Call me Corporal, comrade and occasional NCO to Jade.

I intend to talk about some of the more technical aspects of the Civil War artillery, weapons and equipment seen in reenactment posts or different monuments. I will primarily use as references for citing books in my own private collection.

Until next time, dismissed.

History of Roma (Gypsy) in 1800's

Jade here,

If you have been fallowing us threw the season some  of you know I portray a Roma ( gypsy ) when I am not in uniform.

here are some historical facts about my people.

 There are 5 major tribes the Rom, the Ludor,  the black Hungarian and the Rom michels.

Rom.
the Rom arrived in the united states  from Serbia, Russia and Austria - hungry in 1880.
 Most specialized in copper smith  work.

Ludor
Romanian gypsy also came to the states in 1880.
most Ludor were "show people" specializing in animal training  from monkeys to bears.

Rom Michel

also known as the English gypsy's  came to the sates in 1850.
 Most were basket weavers and fortune tellers.

the black dutch
 gypsys from Germany.
there are very few of these due to most now claiming to be rom michel.

Hungarian gypsys.
came to the states in 1880.
most were musicians.



  cited from: http://smithsonianeducation.org/migrations/gyp/gypstart.html
          

last reenactment of the season sadly

 Sadly this last weekend was the last  event of the season for us. we were attending moresville civil war days. a amazing little event on a farm in south haven Mish.

adventures finding civil war monuments

one of the thing we love to do when were not in the field is go looking for monuments some times making a road trip out of it.

this weekend we found 2 cannons. both dating back to the civil war.
 the first is a 30 lb. parrot. we found in Constantine MI.  sadly the carriage for both was gone and the  sight was bent on the 30. but still a amazing find.

 the second cannon was a 100 lb cannon.

more from our adventures at Angola civil war days.

Jade here,

Saturday night was a eventful night for me as i had family show up for the night fire and they took some amazing pictures of  our battery's original bronze 6 lb. cannon.

all the pictures were taken around 8 pm before the night fire.